The Revolutionary War
A Turning Point: How a failed plan changed the direction of the war.
This led to the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, with “the shot heard round the world.”
That shot began the Revolutionary War.
Since the King and British Government still technically owned the colonies, their communities were not exactly free.
The Revolutionary War began well for the Patriots.
The British were surrounded in the Siege of Boston and forced to flee to Canada.
But they returned with great force and defeated George Washington and the Continental Army at the Battle of Long Island.
The British pushed the Continental Army out of New York and even New Jersey.
However, the Continental Army was able to regroup and get reinforcements before making a bold counter-attack.
George Washington crossed the Delaware river to defeat the British forces, made up of German soldiers hired by the British, who they took by surprise.
They returned to Philadelphia but crossed the Delaware river again and defended against the British in Trenton before defeating another British force at Princeton.
The British retreated all the way back to New York. They needed a change of plan.
They decided they would try to divide the Thirteen Colonies. They believed that the Middle and Southern colonies were more loyal to Britain than the New England colonies.
They devised a plan of three separate forces to attack the Patriots from three different directions – from the north, the south, and the west – before meeting in Albany, New York, to cut off New England from the other colonies.
However, the southern and western forces never arrived, and the northern forces were defeated at the Battles of Saratoga in October 1777.
Although the British northern force won an initial battle, the Patriots returned with a stronger force and defeated the British northern force, capturing over 6,000 soldiers.
This was the turning point for the Patriots in the Revolutionary War. Not only was it a great victory, but it brought the French into the war on the side of the Patriots.